Quick Update

Ava's eyes are officially pretty much fine. They only really get concerned if the eyes are crossing in more than out. The eye muscle is fine and she has 20/20 vision (which means she has escaped the inevitable glasses for now). He just said to keep an eye on her and if it gets more frequent or tends to get stuck off to one side to come back. Poor thing did not like the three sets of drops to numb and dilate her eyes. Enough got in though, and she did great for everything else. They were actually impressed. And they did have a prize box for her to go through. They let her pick out several things, so Ava was equally impressed.

Car's headlight bulb was changed today too. Yay.

The Past Week

Not much has been happening around here lately. I spent last week trying to get rid of the worst sinus junk I've had in a while. The past few times that Ava and/or Kevin have been sick I've been able to dodge it somehow, but said my turn was coming. I'm still sniffling and popping my ears, ugh. I'm just thankful it's better now.

Ava and I made a trip to Memphis Friday. We spent one night at my mama's. We really don't get up there often enough. Ava loves to play with mimi and pops. I had to stop by the bank (they don't have ours down here), because I somehow lost my bank card the week before. This time I got my picture taken to be on it, but hopefully it won't happen again.

Tomorrow Ava has an appointment with an opthamologist. For a few months now she does this weird thing with one of her eyes where she'll be looking off and it will go to the side. It's kind of hard to describe, I just hope she's not getting lazy eye. I know she'll probably have to wear glasses within a few years since both hubby and I do.

Speaking of hubby, I'm about to go make him get out there and change the bulb in my car's headlight before the rain starts again. It went out day before yesterday, and it's making me paranoid I'm gonna get pulled over. I passed 3 police last night with my high-beams on, and just knew they were going to turn right around to stop me. I don't trust the thing about having the bulb and receipt with you will keep you from getting a ticket.

Halloween 08

Ava started out with a lot of candy, some of the older ladies we live near each gave her a bag of goodies. She had a fun rest of the day, in spite of just starting to get a cold the night before, of all times. But she did very well. We went to daddy's work first. All of the employee's kids come by there to get candy from everyone. Later we went to the church for games and trunk or treat. She had a big time there, plus we won a door prize. Then went on to a few houses. She did not want to stop going door to door, running to each one. Of course, she now has enough candy to last her til next halloween. I can't believe it is now November!

Poodle cutie going to daddy's work



















She did it!














Trunk or treat.














Gimme the candy!














Mama and Ava

Shouldn't Surprise Me

Oooookay, so much for my concerns over Ava's concentration and attention, at least for Candyland. Now, after just the first few (of unknown total number) times of playing, she has it mastered to the point she beats me. Although she doesn't yet comprehend landing on a card that sends you backwards is a bad thing.
Also, we worked on the letter L with all the leaves around now. She picked up a few and we painted one side to print on paper. They didn't want to cooperate though, so she painted the whole sheet(s).

Wordless Wednesday

Halloween reminiscing...

First one, a bit young for trick or treating, an outfit we already had.


Second year, little ladybug, rained that year.


Last year, cheerleader again, that's a scarecrow if you're wondering.

Trekking Along The Preschool Path

First of all, it has finally cooled off here! Yaaay! I almost complained about it being too cold last night, but then stopped myself, and remembered how short-lived this coolness/cold always seems every year. That and I've been counting the days since late spring for this day. I really do love it, hubby especially does, and so does my hair (hates heat and humidity).

Moving on, on today's preschool home school agenda was learning to play another new board game, Candyland. I love using board games as learning tools. There are so many aspects to use: colors, counting, shapes, letters etc. depending on the game. We dove right into the candyland, but then had to backtrack a little and do a little basic practicing. She was having a little difficulty understanding we were following a path to win. She would try to move her man to any square of the color on the card. So I stopped and had her follow my finger as I said different colors I to move to. She seemed to do better. We'll work on it.

I think I'm going to cut back the computer games for a while. I think it is affecting her ability to concentrate and follow one thing at a time. On the computer (mostly nick jr. and noggin's sites), she can just skip to the next thing if she can't catch on or gets bored. I noticed with this board game (not all the ones she has), she didn't want to stay with her man and what was just ahead, but would even move to a square way back (right color, wrong direction). I don't know, could be her age too.

Aaaaanyway, another thing I thought of today to work on is lower case letters. She knows all the upper case, but has difficulty with most lower. I think I'm going to make some flash cards with the upper on one side and lower on the other. I also want to make some number flash cards. She can recognize 1 through 9, but double-digits are a challenge. Her favorite art thing is painting. We're working on coloring in lines, and scissors for that area too.

My challenge is keeping it all short and simple. That's for her attention span and my patience.:)

A Miracle To Report

The little 2 yr old girl, Natalie, I posted about before that was receiving treatment at St. Jude for a brain tumor has just been declared tumor-free! Apparently, the doctors there have been able to shrink it so much that it is not even visible, they're saying gone. I don't know any other details right now, but I think that's the most important one. God just completely turned upside down they're bleak prognosis.
Hopefully, now the family can plan on a brighter future with her (the dad could not bear to even think of it before). Praise be to God for this amazing miracle!